A pre-packaged food label in India carries fifteen mandatory declarations.
They are the name of the food, the ingredients, nutritional information, the veg or non-veg symbol, and any additives. Then manufacturer details, the FSSAI logo and licence number, net quantity and batch number. Then date marking, importer details and country of origin. Last come instructions for use, allergens, and the not-for-human-consumption symbol where it applies.
Those come from Regulation 5 of the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020. Miss one and the pack is non-compliant, whatever else is right.
Restaurant menus are a separate rule, and a narrower one. Only outlets on a Central Licence, or brands with ten or more locations, have to print calories.
Among the restaurant owners we work with, the declaration that causes most confusion is the date. Most articles say “best before” is required. Under the regulation it is optional, and two other dates are not.
Key Takeaways
- Fifteen declarations are mandatory on a pre-packaged label under Regulation 5.
- The nutrition panel must show values per 100g or 100ml and per serve, with %RDA per serve.
- Date of manufacture and expiry are both compulsory. “Best before” is optional extra information.
- Eight allergen categories must be declared, written as “Contains …”.
- Menu calorie labelling applies only to Central Licence holders or chains with 10+ outlets.
- No front-of-pack warning label rule exists yet. It is still before the Supreme Court.
What Must Appear on an FSSAI Label?
Every pre-packaged food sold in India carries these, in the order the Labelling and Display Regulations set them out.
| # | Declaration | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Name of food | The common name, not just the brand |
| 2 | List of ingredients | Descending order by weight at the time of manufacture |
| 3 | Nutritional information | The panel covered in the next section |
| 4 | Veg or non-veg declaration | The green or brown symbol |
| 5 | Food additives | Class name plus the additive name or INS number |
| 6 | Manufacturer or packer details | Name and complete address |
| 7 | FSSAI logo and licence number | In a colour that contrasts with the background |
| 8 | Net quantity | Plus retail price and consumer care details |
| 9 | Lot, batch or code number | For traceability |
| 10 | Date marking | Covered below, and commonly got wrong |
| 11 | Importer labelling | Where the food is imported |
| 12 | Country of origin | Where the food is imported |
| 13 | Instructions for use | Where the food needs them |
| 14 | Allergen declaration | Eight categories, listed below |
| 15 | Non-human-consumption symbol | Where applicable |
The declarations sit on the principal display panel, the face of the pack a customer sees first.
How Should the FSSAI Ingredient List Be Written?
Ingredients go in descending order of weight, measured at the time the food was made. Not by volume, and not by how important they seem.
Additives cannot hide behind a number alone. Each one needs its class name, such as preservative or acidity regulator, followed by either the additive name or its INS number.
That rule is where a lot of packs slip. An ingredient panel ending in a bare string of INS numbers, with no class names against them, does not meet the requirement.
What Does the Nutrition Panel Have to Show?
This changed with a 2022 amendment and a lot of older packs never caught up. The panel now needs three columns of numbers, not one.
Values must appear per 100g or 100ml, per serve, and as a percentage of RDA per serve.
The nutrients themselves are fixed:
- Energy, in kcal
- Protein, in grams
- Carbohydrate, with total sugars and added sugars shown separately
- Total fat, with saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol shown separately
- Sodium, in milligrams
The RDA percentages use one standard adult diet as the reference. That is 2,000 kcal of energy, 67g total fat, 22g saturated fat, 2g trans fat, 50g added sugar and 2,000mg sodium a day.
One tolerance is worth knowing. The declared value cannot fall more than 10% short at any point in the shelf life. A number that is right on day one but not on day ninety still fails.
How Do the Veg and Non-Veg Symbols Work?
Both are a filled shape inside a square outline, and the shape carries the meaning.
| Type | Symbol | Colour |
|---|---|---|
| Vegetarian | Filled circle inside a square outline | Green |
| Non-vegetarian | Filled triangle inside a square outline | Brown |
Position is not a design choice. The symbol goes on the front panel, on a background that contrasts with it, close to the name or brand name.
Size scales with the pack. On a panel up to 100 square centimetres the circle is 3mm across; above 2,500 square centimetres it rises to 8mm. Our guide to FSSAI logo rules sets out the sizing in full.
Which Allergens Must an FSSAI Label Declare?
Eight categories, declared as “Contains …” followed by the ingredient names.
- Cereals containing gluten, including wheat, rye, barley, oats and spelt
- Crustaceans and crustacean products
- Milk and milk products
- Eggs and egg products
- Fish and fish products
- Peanuts and tree nuts, including almonds, walnuts, pistachio and cashew
- Soybeans and soybean products
- Sulphite, where it is present at 10mg per kg or more
Where cross-contamination is possible rather than certain, the wording changes to “May Contain …”. Raw agricultural produce sold as it is falls outside the requirement.
What Does FSSAI Date Marking Actually Require?
This is the declaration most articles get wrong, so it is worth being exact.
Two dates are mandatory: the date of manufacture or packaging, and the expiry or use-by date. They must be grouped together in one place on the pack, not scattered.
“Best before” is optional. It is additional information a brand may choose to add. It does not replace the expiry date.
The format depends on shelf life. Under three months, use DD/MM/YY. Over three months, the month in three capital letters and the year is enough. Meals packed for airlines and railways need the time as well as the date.
A short list carries no expiry declaration at all. Fresh produce, vinegar, sugar confectionery, salt and chewing gum are exempt, as are wines and spirits at 10% ABV or above.
How Small Can FSSAI Label Text Be?
There is a floor, and it moves with the size of the pack. The figures below come from Regulation 6(3). Check them there directly, because the numbers quoted around the web disagree with each other.
| Principal display panel area | Minimum letter height | If blown, moulded or embossed |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 100 cm² | 1mm | 2mm |
| 100 to 500 cm² | 2mm | 4mm |
| 500 to 2,500 cm² | 4mm | 6mm |
| Above 2,500 cm² | 6mm | 8mm |
Special declarations for the ingredients in Schedule II carry their own floor of 3mm, measured on the lower-case letter “l”. Multi-source edible vegetable oils have stricter rules again.
Who Has to Print Calories on a Menu?
Menu labelling is a different rule from pack labelling, and it catches far fewer businesses than owners assume.
It applies to a food service establishment holding a Central Licence, or one operating ten or more outlets. Either condition is enough. A single restaurant on a State Licence is outside the rule.
Where it applies, the menu card, board or booklet must carry:
- Calorific value in kcal per serving, alongside the serving size, against each item
- The line “An average active adult requires 2,000 kcal energy per day, however, calorie needs may vary”
- Allergen information, which may be shown as symbols
- The vegetarian or non-vegetarian logo
The same information has to appear on the brand’s website and on any platform listing. On request, the outlet must also provide the full nutritional breakdown.
Event caterers are exempt, as are premises trading fewer than 60 days a year, self-serve condiments, and dishes modified at a customer’s request.
The obligation started on 1 January 2022. You will often read that it was pushed to July 2022. It was not. What moved was enforcement: FSSAI said it would not draw samples to verify menu calorie declarations until 30 June 2022. The rule itself applied from January.
Keeping calorie figures consistent across a printed menu, a website and three delivery listings is where chains lose control. Multi-outlet menu management covers how to push one change everywhere at once, and a restaurant POS holds the item master those listings pull from.
What Changes Next?
Two things are moving, and only one of them has a date.
The First Amendment to these regulations was notified in March 2026 and comes into force on 1 July 2027. Nothing in it binds anyone today. When it does apply, it brings in rules for non-retail containers, which must be marked “NON-RETAIL CONTAINER” or “NOT FOR DIRECT SALE TO CONSUMER”. It lets small packs of 100 square centimetres or less leave the FSSAI logo off, provided the outer pack carries it. It adds a definition of minimally processed food, adjusts what infant nutrition and supplement packs must declare, and requires fortified products to say “fortified with” and show the logo.
Front-of-pack labelling has no rule and no date. The Supreme Court has been pressing FSSAI to bring in warning labels for food high in sugar, salt and saturated fat. FSSAI proposed a table of recommended daily limits instead. In August 2026 the Court rejected that approach. It gave the regulator a fortnight to file its final position. Until something is notified, nothing is required. Treat any article announcing a front-of-pack deadline with suspicion.
Where FSSAI Labels Usually Go Wrong
A handful of faults account for most of what gets picked up, and none of them are exotic.
- The two dates sit on different panels. Manufacture on the side, expiry on the base. The regulation asks for them grouped in one place.
- The nutrition panel is still single-column. Per 100g only, with no per-serve column and no %RDA. That format has been out of date since 2022.
- The allergen line is missing on an obvious allergen. A biscuit with wheat and milk and no “Contains” statement anywhere.
- The veg symbol drifts. It ends up on the back, or on a busy photograph where the square outline disappears. It belongs on the front, near the name, on a plain background.
- The licence number belongs to the wrong entity. Where the brand owner and the manufacturer differ, both numbers are needed.
None of those need a consultant. They need somebody to read the artwork against the fifteen declarations before the print run, which takes an afternoon once and nothing thereafter.
Getting the licence itself right comes first, and our FoSCoS registration guide covers that end. Printing menus rather than packs? The menu card design rules cover how to fit the mandatory lines in without wrecking the layout.
Conclusion
Most labelling penalties are not clever. A missing allergen line. An expiry date on a different panel from the manufacture date. A nutrition panel still in the old single-column format.
Work down the fifteen declarations once, properly, and check the date grouping and the allergen wording. Those two account for most of what gets picked up.
If you also run outlets, check whether you cross the Central Licence or ten-outlet line first. Calorie testing is not cheap, and you may not owe it. Our FSSAI compliance checklist covers the rest of the licence-side obligations.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. The compulsory dates are the date of manufacture or packaging and the expiry or use-by date. “Best before” is optional additional information, which is the reverse of what most summaries claim. Both compulsory dates have to sit together in one place on the pack.
Only if it holds a Central Licence or runs ten or more outlets. A single independent restaurant on a State Licence does not. It still has to display its FSSAI licence and the Food Safety Display Board. If you are unsure which licence you hold, our licence check guide shows how to verify it.
Not as a substitute for anything. FSSAI has recommended adding a QR code carrying ingredients, nutrition, allergen and contact details so that visually impaired customers can access it. It is advisory, and it does not replace a single mandatory declaration on the pack.
It makes the product misbranded under the Food Safety and Standards Act. That carries a penalty, and stock can be recalled or seized. In practice the cost is usually the reprint and the held consignment rather than the fine.
Menu labelling follows the same test, the Central Licence or ten-outlet threshold, so most single-brand cloud kitchens fall outside it. Pack labelling is different. The moment you sell anything pre-packed, a bottled sauce or a boxed dessert, the full fifteen declarations apply to that item.
